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Legion XXIII (Silver Swords)
History Pre-Scream Like most history before the Scream, the history of the Silver Swords during this period is limited to a few surviving documents and other records. A collection of videos on swarm tactics featuring the "Scabbard that can hold a million swords", joint combat manuevers meant for mechs and fighter-craft, art dating to the early 2300s of sliver clad mechs, and documents of the Silver Swords' efforts in fighting the Red Devils alongside the Shinning Guard are all that is left of the legion's ancient history. Warlords Period After the scream, House Aquila was divided into factions of competing warlords each one trying to gain control of the only planet they thought was left in the galaxy. The Silver Swords were no different. Lead by the Loyola family and garrisoned in the hull of an ancient pretech carrier, that can hold a million swords, known as the Scabbard. Beyond their vessel,the Silver Swords would patrol the area surrounding Toui having claimed the city as their own after raiding it. The Silver Swords were a dangerous force to be reckoned with for most other warbands due to their large hoard of ships and mechs stocked within the Scabbard. That is not to say they were not without challenge as they warred regularly with Battlegroup Scorpio, the Crimson Drakes warband and even the Shining Guard whenever they tried to raid the Red City. During the first unification of Diomikato, after the rediscovery of Aliya by House Vela, the warlords and warbands who were already vying for control of the planet became more inspired to seize the planet as their own before rejoining the empire they once thought lost. While Scorpio and the Obruchevs preyed on the Shining Guard over the Red City, the Silver Swords led by Warlord Don Juan Loyola, targeted the Wanderers, a warband that claimed no hold on the surface of the planet and instead lived within simple camps, raiding other warbands for the means of survival. After the Wanderers set camp a few miles out from the Scabbard, the Silver Swords planned an extensive raid that would either destroy the Wanderers entirely or force them into surrendering into the ranks of the Silver Swords. When the attack on the Wanderers was sprung, the highly mobile warbands started a fight that was closer to a hunt than a skirmish, the two armies would engage each other as the Wanderers became prey and Silver Swords became hunters. After three long hours of chasing, the Wanderers were finally cornered and the battle ended swiftly as the surviving Wanderers were absorbed into the Silver Swords. With this victory under his belt, Don Juan changed his sights to one of his warband’s biggest rivals, the Crimson Drakes. This challenge proved far more difficult than it was worth however, as every clash between each warband would would leave each side too wounded to pursue each other. Ultimately the effort to take out or enfold the Crimson Drakes would prove to be fruitless and a waste of time for the Silver Swords, as Anaïs Obruchev and Scorpio would catch the Drakes refuelling and force their surrender. This would leave Warlord Don Juan with no choice but to either fight the powerful Battlegroup Scorpio now, before they became too powerful, or to delay the inevitable confrontation in favor of mustering greater strength. Ultimately Don Juan chose the former and tried to swiftly beat Battlegroup Scorpio on the field of battle. Mustering all of his forces, he prepared an assault on the Scorpio controlled, and Shining Guard defended, Red City. The attack came as soon as the Scorpio forces left the city defended only by the Shining Guard. The Silver Swords’ mechs invaded the city’s walls and their strike fighters took to the skies above Amiheim to try and subjugate the great city before Scorpio could come and stop them. But just as Warlord Anáis Obruchev had learnt before, Don Juan would find the Shining Guard were not such easy prey. The attack that was anticipated to last only the better part of a day, turned into the hell of a week. All the time spent trying to crack Amihiem and the Shining Guard allowed Scorpio to return and face the Silver Swords.Immediately upon Scorpio’s arrival, the Silver Swords broke away from the siege to face them. Warlord Don Juan knew full well that the only way for victory in the struggle for Diomikato was for him to defeat Battlegroup Scorpio there and now. Unfortunately, the battle would push the Silver Swords into exhaustion after their week long siege against the Shining Guard. Their soldiers failed to surpass the fresh and mighty soldiers of Scorpio, and the battle would end with the death of Don Juan Loyola. His son, Hernán would surrender and swear fealty to the Obruchevs. Hernán Loyola was a fiery young man who decided that even though the Silver Swords had surrendered, they would not help the Obruchevs in their conquests. Instead he would use the Scabbard’s many cryogenic pods to put himself and his warband to sleep after relocating the Scabbard to the Dark Side of Diomikato. His plan was to return after a century and attempt his father’s ambition once again. One hundred years later, when the First Imperial Civil War was only just beginning, Warlord Hernán and the Silver Swords awake from their cryosleep. In this new era they found that, during their slumber, the Obruchevs had indeed fallen out of power. Hernán would set out like his father once did and attempt to take over the planet once more. But Diomikato would prove significantly more challenging to unify the second time. These new warlords had many years to learn the tactics and strategies of this new age. These warlords had also grown much more guarded, making large scale battles quite rare. It would take decades for the warband to amass any power after vanishing from society, and in those many years, Hernán, who had aged far more than his father, had learned everything about war. But as time went on he knew his chances of being the ruler of Diomikato were slipping away. While he was now well experienced, he was still no tactical genius, and although he had many men, they were not as well trained as the veterans in the many other warbands who had been fighting across the sector. With these lessons and more, his ambition swiftly shifted from becoming sole ruler of Aquila to discovering someone worthy of the mantle instead. Eventually a new warlord would arise out of the Red City, a youthful genius named Alejandra Ari. She had overtaken the Shining Guard with the aid of allies within the warband, and it became clear to Hernán, as it did to many others, that she must either be swiftly defeated or quickly allied with. For Hernán who had seen his father die in battle while trying to take the Red City, the idea of a siege attempt was unappealing. It was an easy choice to instead kneel to Warlord Ari and her General Bellicus, and he would be one of the first leaders to join her cause bloodlessly. From that point forward, the Silver Swords followed the youngest warlord on her meteoric rise to power as she continued to conquer and charm other warlords to her cause. The Silver Swords were critical in several battles during the second unification, such as in the Battle of 1000 Kings, where their large numbers and use of swarm tactics let them thrive in the utter chaos of the largest battle of Ari’s unification. During the years of Alejandra’s campaign, the Silver Swords would be as present as even the Shining Guard. Hernán always made it a point to be in as many battles as possible and for his ideas to be heard by the young warlord, often much to her Mentor’s chagrin, as he shared conflicting opinions with General Bellicus. Besides his own presence, Hernán made sure to bring along his grandson, Julio, who was of similar age to Warlord Alejandra. He had hoped the boy would win her affections, and although she would never accept his advances, it is believed the two would maintain a friendship. Once Diomikato was unified under the command of Alejandra in 2888, and she set her sights on the rest of the sector the Silver Swords would be reorganized into a force of 10,000 pilots and were one of the few legions, like Scorpio, that kept their original name. Generalissimo Alejandra would also offer the resources to restore the Scabbard as a space worthy vessel, for this act alone Hernán pledged himself and his people forever loyal to the Generalissimo. The Silver Swords would follow Generalissimo Alejandra in the newly christened ILS Scabbard that Holds a Thousand Blades as she traveled across the core demanding fealty from each of the noble houses. The Silver Swords were instrumental in dealing with several of the more contentious houses notably Cygnus and Fornax. Their campaign would end when the High Church would crown her the Empress. Reign of the Blood Eagle In 2901, after the coronation, General Hernán would resign from his post as commander of the Silver Swords, giving leadership over to his grandson Julio Loyola. His decision to resign was motivated by his advanced age and the fact he had been grooming Julio as a replacement for years. Hernán would go on to found Burritoville while his grandson would lead the Silver Swords from the coronation through the end of the second civil war. Julio was chosen over his father Francisco due to how well he and Alejandra were able to get along after his years trying and failing to court the Empress; although others had tried as well, he was one of the few to stay in her good graces after the attempt. Julio was loyal to the Empress to a fault and known often throughout her court as one of her close confidants, For his closeness and his loyalty to the Empress, Julio was granted a seat within the Imperial Aerie, from there he would influence many of the Empress’ decisions, agreeing with her strategies as they progressively became more ruthless throughout her rule. It was said that General Julio Loyola was almost as ruthless as the Empress herself. Due to their general’s high position in the Imperial Aerie, the Silver Swords were given many of the important missions during the Second Imperial Civil War: Both the First Battle of Imperial Prime and the Second Battle of Imperial Prime, as well as the Tsatsos Campaign are just a few examples of their assignments. One of their most notable engagements during the second civil war was when the founding legions of the White Legions decided to flee Diomikato to join the Council of Houses. On that fateful day, they were stationed on Diomikato and were one of the quickest to notice that the III, IV and XLIV legions began acting out of line and engaged the spaceborn fleets cutting heavy casualties into all of the traitorous legions. From Tsatsos to Ellis, the Silver Swords were rallied to counter the White Legions and the Council. By fighting the rebels on every front, they rose from slowing down their advances to decisively winning a number of battles against the rebels. They made every sacrifice to proclaim victory in the name of their Empress. Ultimately, the Council of Houses would make a last ditch to secure victory on Diomikato while attempting to defeat the Blood Eagle and her Loyalists, once and for all. It was there where the Loyalists and the Council would spend almost a year struggling to win the war with their final maneuvers. The Silver Swords were given one of the most critical tasks throughout the Battle of Diomikato by forming the Blood Eagle’s retinue. The Scabbard was to be an integral part of the Eagle’s Talon escort fleet in order to keep the Blood Eagle safe. For most of the year long battle, the Eagle’s Talon and her escort fleet would swiftly destroy interposing forces whenever and wherever the dreadnought could rear its head. The might of the dreadnought alongside the efforts of the escort maintained a careful stalemate against the significant enemy presence in Aliya, but on the final day of the Battle of Diomikato a cunning plan hatched by the rebels was sprung, bringing down the Empress’s flagship over the Red City. Shortly after that, the Scabbard was critically damaged and the legion was forced to escape towards the planet. While most of the legion survived the descent, the soldiers were left without any of their mechs or ships. General Julio Loyola survived the crash and swiftly organized his forces to charge into the city. Despite his men being despondent at the catastrophic loss of the Eagle’s Talon and their own ship, he rallied his legion by giving a rousing speech where he proclaimed there was still hope that they could still save their Empress, and secure their victory. Julio is quoted as saying, “Our Empress defeated not just Diomikato, but the entire sector! Who among us should doubt her steel!?” Upon entering the Red City in their search to secure the Blood Eagle, the Silver Swords were immediately curbed by several cohorts of LUX alongside Fornax forces. General Loyola repositioned to better orchestrate the battle on a rooftop near the city’s statue of Emperox Diomikato, guarding himself with a retinue of two decan’s worth of men he issued commands from a position of assumed security. The skirmish at the statue favored Loyola’s forces until General Bellicus of LUX arrived to lead his men from the crash of the'' Eagle’s Talon''. General Bellicus, famous for his direct leadership, rallied the LUX and Fornax forces into victory by forcing a hard strike directly at General Loyola. Bellicus’ plan was to strike the head from the snake and let the rest follow. General Loyola took every step to prevent Bellicus from reaching him as he feared for his life, knowing that Bellicus held a bloody grudge against his grandfather and therefore himself. Once Bellicus took the field, General Loyola began throwing his men haphazardly to deal with the looming threat, this would be the greatest mistake of his life. The skirmish ended after the two generals died upon the sword of the statue, officers of both sides witnessed Bellicus use his dying moments to launch himself and Loyola off the roof and onto the blade. After having lost everything they had and being completely encircled by both Fornax and LUX forces, the Silver Swords surrendered. Reign of the Masked Emperox After the end of the Second Imperial Civil War, having suffered heavy losses including their flagship, the Convocation decided that Legion XXIII should be retired until future personnel could fill their ranks. Unlike several other legions that were retired during this time, the Silver Swords would not be quickly brought back into service because of several political maneuvers by significant parties of the Convocation. They desired to disband the legion permanently and their debates and influence would stall out the re-establishment of the legion for more than a century. In 3062, the year of ascension for the Velan Emperox, the Convocation finally agreed on re-establishing the Silver Swords as a proper legion. Resources were given for the task of rebuilding the Scabbard, alongside the normal needed for manpower recovery. The legion would be fully ready to return to duty on January 1st 3085, when the AQN Scabbard was fully repaired. Once again, with the leadership of yet another Loyola, the family reclaimed their legion after more than a century of exile. As always they were ready and willing to serve for the Empire. Reign of the Betrayer Serving fiercely and faithfully during the peaceful reign of the Shining Star, the Silver Swords would come very close to total destruction once more during the War Against the Artificials. The day that House Cygnus undertook their betrayal of humanity, the Silver Swords were attacked from within their own ranks as their synthetic former comrades turned on the fleet. Two of the fleet’s four support frigates and one of its two cruisers were hijacked by their synthetic crews. The Synthetics attempted to take more of the ships but were unsuccessful as their human crews held the mutineers are bay. With the Silver Swords fleet divided under the control of the Synthetics, the legion open fired upon itself. When the dust settled the fleet had been reduced to two thousand men, the AQN Scabbard, and two support frigates. For most of the war, the Silver Swords would serve in support roles across the Empire as the legion could never be fully reinforced. This would have them participate in battles with little effect. The legion would shift throughout the war from slightly over one thousand at its lowest to almost eight thousand at the Siege of Infernum. By the end of the conflict, their manpower stood at approximately four thousand strong. Conflict of 3200 to Present By the time the Conflict of 3200 occured on Diomikato, the Silver Swords were at six thousand strong and holding the line during the blockade by ACRE. The Silver Swords would fight valiantly when the ACRE fleets brought their full might upon the combined Aquilan fleet, but ultimately they would be forced to retreat alongside the other legions present. Afterward, they were part of the force that guarded Hroa before returning to Diomikato. At the end of the conflict, the Silver Swords would number barely over three thousand. Following the coronation of the Tenth Emperox , the Silver Swords were kept active during the Great Consolidation. Organisation The Silver Swords follow the standard size and structure of other legions, but is heavily focused on Triarii and Navilis forces. This is to focus more so on strikecraft and starships to accomplish their doctrines. Category:House Aquila Category:Legions